I was bored out of my mind for most of this show. The performances were dull, almost everyone was off pitch regularly, the song choices were hideous--I woke up during La Toya's performance, which, up until that point, at least had the energy others were missing, and I was rockin' during Amy's absolutely fantastic one. I have not liked Amy all that much until now, but country is DEFINITELY where she should set her sights. Why Simon couldn't just come out and say she sounded terrific is beyond me.

As I said, La Toya had energy, but I don't like the song. Fantasia gave a very nice, classy performance. I appreciated it--but she needs to control herself when Simon offers constructive criticism. Otherwise, the fans will turn on her in a heartbeat.

During the recap, it was interesting to see the difference between Diana, who was first in recap, and Amy, who had just performed. It was such a dramatic difference. Finally Simon said to Diana what I've been saying all along (and had just finished saying to Mr. RG). The girl has vocal talent but is a sham--a kid taught how to walk the show biz walk and talk the show biz talk (and she's learned how to make it all sound so homey and natural)--but she has absolutely no connection to the words and therefore to the audience.

George and Jennifer did a good job, and I would rank them after Amy & La Toya. I stand by my initial explanation of last week as to Simon's motivation for trashing Jennifer. There can be no other rational explanation for him being so harsh when clearly others were far worse.

John Stevens picked a good song for his particular style. I just don't care particularly for that style, but he did a good job with it. Can we all say "CRUISE SHIP"?

Speaking of worse... Camille, Jasmine, Matt, & JPL were all awful, just awful. They selected songs that DETRACTED from rather than show off their voices. Re: Jasmine, Randy said the key was wrong, but that's just a part of the problem. Sometimes a song just doesn't sit well in the voice no matter what key the song is in. It's hard to explain why but I will try... Everyone has a "gift" part of his or her voice--that part of the voice that just blows you away. It's not necessarily the high notes. A song has to utilize that gift part of the voice and float around it. That song, "Breathe" requires a very strong low range because the entire verse sits there--and Jasmine does not have that. The meat of her voice is her mid-range (unlike, say Jennifer, whose gift part is the low notes), but this song requires strength on the bottom part of the voice (the verses) and the high (the chorus)--so it will never sit well for someone whose meat/gift part of the voice is in the middle. To have raised the key would have made it impossible for Jasmine to hit the high notes of the chorus at all.

Okay, voice lesson over... getting off voice teacher podium.

I totally expected JPL and Matt to come out and entertain us with this genre, and they COMPLETELY missed the boat by picking ballads and trying to win us over with their pseudo-heartfelt shtick, which only screamed AMATEURS to me. I was CRINGING!

My picks in order of preference:
1. Amy

BIG GAP

2. La Toya
3. Jennifer
4. George
5. Fantasia

BIG GAP

6. Diana
7. John Stevens

BIG GAP

8. Camille
9. Jasmine
10. Matt
11. JPL

I believe it will be Jennifer (thanks to Simon), Camille and Matt in the bottom 3 with Jennifer getting the boot.

I only saw the first half, because I was rockin' it out over at the America's Next Top Model finale (yay Yoanna!!!). No big loss, as Country Night is a big Yawn to me - I get no pleasure out of seeing most of the idol struggle with a genre they don't get.

RealtorGal, I still agree with you about Diana - when I wasn't looking at the screen I thought, 'great voice', but when I watched, the whole performance felt prepackaged and fake.

I thought Fantasia sang well, but I am really disgusted with her sass talk after the judges comments. Most of the time when contestants give lip to the judges, I'm like'whatever', but this was different - because Simon was complimenting Fantasia!!! If she had just shut up and listened to what he was saying, she may have understood that Simon was saying that, while she had proven that she can convincingly sing out of her typical genre, he hoped she wouldn't lose the part of her personality that made a star performer. There wasn't a single negative thing in what he was saying (for once), but Fantasia was so busy thinking it was her big chance to 'put Simon in his place' (I believe she even said those words), she just kept making it worse. Previously I had been a fan of Fantasia's, but if she gives attitude to the judges again, I will gladly see her go.

I wish I had heard LaToya and Amy sing - LaToya because I think she rocks, and Amy because I've been waiting for her to bust out and PERFORM! Sounds like she did tonight.

I think the bottom 3 will be Camille, Jennifer and Jasmine, and Camille will go tomorrow.

Diana rocked, well in my opinion, on a country song. She is normally comfortable with fast-paced type songs, e.g. pop, but I still think she will stay for a while at least. I also liked Jasmine's version of "Breathe", which was oh-so-beautiful. I think that the unfortunate one to go will be Camile because she is, typically, not a country singer and "Desperado" isn't really a country song. Nice try for her though.

1. Fantasia -- absolutely terrific. I love her, but wasn't expecting much out of her on Country Night, but I agree with Randy -- she apparently can sing just about anything. As far as her mouthing off to Simon, I kind of liked it, tho I agree she needs to rein that in. (More on that a little later).
2. John Stevens. Great song for him. However, this is at least the second time that he's forgotten the words to something; give that boy a little gingko biloba or something!!
3. LaToya. Vocally, I actually preferred Amy and George (tho George was sounding a little raspy), but I give LaToya a few extra points for taking a big risk and having it pay off, because as soon as I heard her song selection, I was thinking, Oooooh-kay, THIS is going to be interesting..... But it worked well for her, I think.

My bottom 3:
1. JPL -- he's adorable, but that was just PAINFULLY BAD.
2. Dianna. Which surprises me in a way, and doesn't surprise me in another. I think she's great, but this was not her genre and the song selection was terrible.
3. Camille. Even beyond the fact that I hate "Desperado", I flat out don't think this girl can sing. Period.

I have to say I was disappointed in Matt -- I thought this was going to be a good night for him, but instead of tearing the roof off the place like I expected, I found the overall effect lukewarm and whiny.

I just wish Simon would get some consistency, which is why I wasn't overly offended by Fantasia's attitude. He spent most of the night complaining about how everyone was all safe within their usual parameters, but when Fantasia stepped out of hers, he had a problem with it. He's also been inconsistent with George. He spent most of the qualifying rounds complaining about how he needs to update his look because he looks "too old" and now he's worked on his look and now "he's at the mercy of the stylists too much." Last season I agreed with him about 90% of the time (tho I still haven't quite forgiven him for putting Carmen back into it) but this season I think he's just carping for the sake of carping because he likes to hear himself carp. And then there were his complaints about "safe songs". Well, y'know, they have to choose from a list. Maybe put some more [risky? edgy?] songs on the list to begin with. I personally wouldn't mind hearing something like a thrash punk rendition of "One Toke Over The Line" or maybe having Jennifer Hudson go out and do "Sugar Walls", but given the fact that AI is a family show, I just don't think that's gonna happen....

Jonny.....I agree, I think it's part of Simon's "job" to carp.....................as for voting, I got through to all of the singers I wanted to get through to except Jasmine. Her lines were jammed for the better part of an hour, so I can't see how she'll be booted tonight......42